Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniversary of the death of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney (An Píobaire Mór) c. 1831- July 1916.

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=300 BGCOLOR="#C0DCC0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>7ú Teacht le Chéile 'Síol tSuibhne na dTuath'  2006.</B></div> <div> <B>7th Reunion of the 'Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe',  2006.</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="29800850.jpg" border=0 width="256" height="389" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór,</B></div> <div> <B>born Ardlaghan/ Altlaghan, Glenfinn, c.1831.</B></div> <div> <B>died Luinniagh, Gweedore, 1916.</B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Fáilte to the Website of the "Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe".</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fáilte to the Website of the Descendants"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Event 2007: Flight of the Earls/ Imeacht"><U>Event 2007: Flight of the Earls/ Imeacht na nIarlaí.</U></A>   |   <B>Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniversary of the death of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney (An Píobaire Mór) c. 1831- July 1916. </B>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Niall Mór Headstone"><U>The Niall Mór Headstone</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Event 2005 Remembering the 400th annive"><U>Event 2005 - Remembering the 400th anniversary of the execution of Eoghan Óg Mac Sweeney.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donegal Person of the Year 2004"><U>Donegal Person of the Year 2004</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Ch"><U>Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Chiefs of Doe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of th"><U>Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of the Name</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" AT ARMS LENGTH Aristocrats in the Rep"><U> "AT ARM'S LENGTH  - Aristocrats in the Republic of Ireland"</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" The current Mac Sweeney Doe "><U> The current Mac Sweeney Doe </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Doe Castle Graveyard."><U>Doe Castle Graveyard.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Event 2004 Remembering the Battle of K"><U> Event 2004  Remembering the Battle of Knockdoe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great Book of Irish Genealogies "><U>Great Book of Irish Genealogies </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Galloglas"><U> Galloglas</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remembering Daniel Mac Sweeney 18301893"><U>Remembering  Daniel Mac Sweeney 1830-1893, Event 2003 </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840190"><U>Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840-1901 - Event 2002</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remembering the March to Kinsale Event"><U>Remembering the March to Kinsale  - Event 2001</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recalling Myles Mac Sweeneys Swim to Fre"><U>Recalling Myles Mac Sweeney's Swim to Freedom - Event 2000</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mac Sweeney Doe "><U>Mac Sweeney Doe </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Obituary. "><U>Obituary. </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U>Related Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact us"><U>Contact us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="(NEW) Like the Thirteenth Chime, "><U>(NEW) Like the Thirteenth Chime, </U></A></div> <div> Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniversary of the death of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney (An Píobaire Mór) c. 1831- July 1916.  <A NAME="tarlagh"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I>Play us our Éire's most sorrowful songs,</I></div> <div> <I>As she sits by her reeds near the wash of the wave,</I></div> <div> <I>That the coldest may thrill at the count of her wrongs -</I></div> <div> <I>That the sword may flash forth from the scabbard to save,</I></div> <div> <I>And the wide land awake at the wrath of the brave -</I></div> <div> <I>O Turlough Mac Sweeney!</I></div> <div>                                                                      Ethna Carbery.</div> <bR> <div> In 1909 a journalist from the <I>'Weekly Irish Times' </I>interviewed Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór, at his home in Lunniagh, Gweedore and his article (24 April,1909)  begins: <I>'In the varying fortunes of its ancient inhabitants no country in Europe presents more striking examples than Ireland. The many fierce internecine wars with which Ireland was distracted in her early days, followed by the Anglo-Norman conquest in the 12th century, has tended to bring about a state of affairs by which at the present time some families which in former times ranked among the highest in the land, are now in abject poverty, while others have been raised from obscurity,and are now in possession of wealthy estates. A notable example of the reverses of fortune is afforded by the subject of this sketch in the person of Tirloch McSweeney, who resides in the townland of Lunniagh, situated in a wild and sterile district lying between Bunbeg and Bloody Foreland, in the County Donegal. A reference to O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees will show that the ancestors of this remarkable old man, who during his long life of 78 years has followed the occupation of professional piper, were formerly Princes closely associated with the Royal line of Ireland.'</I></div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór, was acknowledged as one of Ireland's greatest pipers.  He was the son and grandson of pipers and a talented fiddle player. Tarlagh was an excellent step dancer who could play the fiddle and dance simultaneously. He was also able to read and write music. Police Chief Francis O Neill, who met Tarlagh in 1893 when he played at the 'World's Columbian Exposition/ World's Fair' in Chicago described his personality thus:<I> 'For an Irish piper his coldness and reticence were in marked contrast with the manners of most persons of his class. This taciturnity may have been constitutional, yet who knows it may be the visible effects of maintaining the dignity of a distinguished piper, conscious of his descent from the chieftains of the once powerful Clan Mac Suibhne of Tír Chonaill'.</I></div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh's parents were Hannah and Eamonn Rua Mac Swyne. Eamonn Rua was Sinsear of Clann tSuibhne na dTuath, 1834 - 1851, and his direct descent from Maolmhuire/ Sir Myles Mac Swyne Chief of Doe 1596-1630 was verified and recorded in 1835 by the famous historian/ antiquarian, Dr. John O Donovan. Tarlagh's great grandfather, Sean Tirloch, Sinsear of Clann tSuibhne na dTuath, was dispossessed as a child because of the Williamite War, 1691. He remained landless and homeless and was sheltered throughout his life by his relations (the remnants of the derbhfine of Doe) as was his son Eamonn Mór and grandson Eamonn Rua.</div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór, was born, c. 1831, in the house of his sister Catherine and her husband Myles Mac Sweeney in Ardlaghan/ Altlaghan, Glenfinn, and died in Lunniagh, Gweedore, 1916. However, Tarlagh's age has long been the subject of debate. On his gravestone in Magheragallan old graveyard his age is given as 98 (b. 1818) - this age is incorrect.  In 1909, Tarlagh was interviewed by a journalist from the<I> Weekly Irish Times</I> (24 April) and gave his age as 78 (b.1831).  The age Tarlagh recorded on the 1901 and 1911 census forms indicates 1831 or 1832 as the year of his birth. His death certificate (July 1916) gives his age as 84 (b, 1832). However, from all the data available, the year 1831 seems to be the most authentic. Soon after Tarlagh was born his parents and siblings moved from Ardlaghan/ Altlaghan to Doochary and it is recorded that Tarlagh was carried to Doochary wrapped in his mother's shawl. Tarlagh's mother, Hannah Heuston, was bringing her new born baby to her mother's home in Derrylaconnell - between Doochary and Lettermacaward.  </div> <bR> <div> In September 1835, Eamonn Rua and members of his family were staying with a relation in Downings, on Sheep Haven Bay, when they met the great historian/ antiquarian Dr. John O Donovan, 5 September, 1835 . John O Donovan recorded Eamonn Rua's lineage and confirmed in his 1835 Donegal Survey Letters and in a footnote in AFM (page 2341) that Eamonn Rua was Mac Sweeney Doe and lineal legitimate descendant of Maolmhuire/ Sir Myles Mac Sweeney, Chief of Doe 1596-1630. John O Donovan wrote to Eugene O Curry (renowned scholar/ scribe) and to Owen Connollan (Irish Historiographer to King George IV and King William IV) and informed them that he had met <I>'the present Chief of the Mac Swinies Doe</I>'.  We also learn from John O Donovan that the owner of Doe Castle, Captain Hart, told Eamonn Rua's youngest son, Tarlagh, that the Mac Swynes had been unjustly deprived of their lands at Horn Head, i.e., the lands granted to Maolmhuire/ Sir Myles Mac Sweeney at the Plantation of Ulster,1609.  </div> <bR> <div> Towards the end of 1835 Eamonn Rua and his family moved from Downings to Druimnatinny/ Drimatinny near Falcarragh where another relation, Antaine Mac Sweeney, came to their aid.  In the meantime, two of Tarlagh's older brothers, Edward and Hugh had obtained land in Glendowan and Derryveagh - part of the ancient mensal lands of their ancestors the Chiefs of Doe.  Eamonn Rua, his wife Hannah and family (including Tarlagh) left Drimnatinny/ Drimatinny and joined Edward and Hugh, in Attinadague/ Altnadague, Derryveagh, thus ending the long dispossession which began a century and a half earlier - during the Williamite War. One hundred and sixty years later a consultant genealogist was able to confirm that the Edward Sweeney/ Eamonn<I> Rua</I> Mac Suibhne listed on the Irish Land Commission 1851 census extract for Attinadague/ Altnadague, Derryveagh, was the <I>Mac Swayne na Doe and heir to Doe Castle and the sinsear of the Clann tSuivne </I>whom O Donovan met in September 1835.</div> <bR> <div> On the 8th, 9th and 10th of April, 1861, Derryveagh was the scene of savage evictions when 47 families (244 persons) were evicted from 46 houses by 200 armed police supported by 30 British soldiers.  Seven (Mac) Sweeneys had been arrested. They were Tarlagh's brother John/Eoin and three of Tarlagh's nephews - Edward, James and Dan Mór (cf.,<A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840190"><U>Event 2002)</U></A> all from Altnadague, Derryveagh. Also arrested were Tarlagh's nephew, Dominic, from Ardlaghan/ Altlaghan, Glenfinn (i.e., from the house where Tarlagh was born) and Tarlagh's cousins, Mary and Dan, from Shrughangarrow, Derryveagh, (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Ref. CSORP/1861/7273)</FONT>. Charles Lysaght, senior constitutional lawyer, tells us in his Foreword to <I>Vanishing Kingdoms,</I> pub. 2004, that <I>'it was probably the case that the presence among the downtrodden Irish peasantry of the descendants of the old chieftain caste must have contributed to the sense of dispossession that was to fuel the Irish nationalist movement and to distinguish it from normal social egalitarian movements'.</I>  We agree, cf., <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remembering Daniel Mac Sweeney 18301893"><U>Event 2003.</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh's elderly widowed mother, Hannah, was evicted from Derryveagh. Her sons, James, John/Eoin, Hugh and Pádraig <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(the famous traditional fiddle player whose music was published in 'Songs of Ulaidh', 1904)</FONT> and their wives and families suffered the same fate. Tarlagh's blood relations accounted for thirty-two of the 244 persons evicted from Derryveagh. However, Tarlagh was not evicted. He married Sarah/ Sally Mhór Crosby from Co. Antrim, c.1857, and had set up home, near his mother's people in Derryleconnell, thirteen miles from Derryveagh.</div> <bR> <div> We learn in Rev. C. P. Meehan's <I>'The Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel'</I>, pp 550-3,1870 Edition, that Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór, was living in Derryleconnell in 1865. However, in 1885 Tarlagh and his family moved to a thatched house in Luinniagh, Gweedore and he remained there for the rest of his life. It is recorded on the 1911 census (for Lunniagh) that Tarlagh and Sally Mhór had 12 children but only seven survived. They were Edward, Anne Jane, John, Mary, Rosie, Margaret and Sarah and we know that five of the seven were born in Derryleconnell. </div> <bR> <div> In 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition/ World's Fair was held in Chicago and merchandise from all over the world was displayed. Handicrafts from Donegal were exhibited in a section of the Irish Pavilion known as "Donegal Castle".  Mrs Ernest Hart, wife of a distinguished Irish-American physician, who had business interests in Gweedore, brought Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór, to Chicago as a representative of Irish pipering.  Each day for six months he played to the crowds who gathered outside "Donegal Castle". Police Chief O Neill had this to say: <I>'No piper of ancient or modern times, unless it be</I><I> '</I><I>the piper who played before Moses' </I><I>has been the subject of so much publicity as McSweeney </I><I>the Donegal piper </I><I>since bought to light by Mrs Hart and installed at Donegal Castle. .... Wonderfully even and correct was his rendition of Irish airs, and his systematic manipulation of the regulators or concords in difficult and varied pieces plainly demonstrated that his instructor had an apt pupil'. </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(Comment.</FONT><I> </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >His instructor was his father Eamonn Rua.)</FONT></div> <bR> <div> On Tarlagh's return to Gweedore, a story circulated that he had won the World's Piping Championship. The final of the competition was between Tarlagh and a German piper and, seemingly, the winner was the piper who could play the most tunes. When Tarlagh had played what he thought was his last tune the German played another one. Tarlagh was about to accept defeat when someone in the crowd shouted in Irish<I> 'what about Dúlaman na Buinne Bui'</I><I> </I>? Tarlagh played <I>'Dúlaman' </I>and the German was played out. Police Chief O Neill, who gave a detailed account of Tarlagh's time in Chicago and of the great acclaim he received does not mention the piping contest so it is unlikely that a formal piping competition was held.</div> <bR> <div> Fr. Seán Cunningham who had attended Tarlagh as he lay dying in 1916 asked Tarlagh's widow, Sally Mhór, for Tarlagh's pipes.  She was reluctant to give them as Tarlagh always said that his son Edward was to have the pipes. Eventually, Sally Mhór relented and gave the pipes and a music book that Tarlagh treasured to Fr. Cunningham. In autumn 1957 as Fr. Cunningham lay dying he gave the pipes and the music book to a lifelong friend Pádraig Mac Seáin, a Primary School Inspector.  On Pádraig's death, his son Diarmuid in Castlebar kindly offered to lend the pipes and book to the Donegal Historical Society and they were collected by Lucius and Kathleen Emerson, long-standing senior officers of the Society. The pipes  and music book were placed in the Donegal Historical Society Museum, Rosnowlagh, Co, Donegal, 25 Sept.1987.  Also on display in the museum is Tarlagh's fiddle, which was given on loan, 15 April 1987, to the Donegal Historical Society by his granddaughter, Rose Quinn.</div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh's obituary in <I>The Catholic Press</I>, 7 Sept.1916, described him thus: <I>'A man of splendid physique, Turlough Mac Sweeney stood 5 feet 11 inches in height, without a trace of a stoop, of clear cut features, aquiline nose and a head of remarkable intellectual formation.... . The late Turlough spoke and wrote Irish and English with remarkable facility and with an accuracy and freedom which were surprising in a man of his years.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>He was acknowledged to be a peerless performer on the bagpipes. It is a very interesting noteworthy fact that the pipes on which Turlough played for the last fifty or sixty years were presented to him by the princely O Neill of Shane's Castle, Co. Antrim, in whose family possession they had been for hundreds of years.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>With the passing away of Turlough Mac Sweeney, Irish minstrelsy has lost one of its most celebrated exponents; his exquisite renderings whether accentuated by gladness, pathos or longing, of the ancient music of the green isle, has ceased to resound through the hills and valleys of heath-clad Gweedore; the historic pipes will know him no more; and Ireland will sigh in vain for another minstrel comparable with the grand old man who has just passed away.'</I></div> <bR> <div> In October 1993 a Féile was held in Gweedore to commemorate the centenary of Tarlagh's participation in the World's Fair in Chicago and Fr. Michael Sweeney. P.P. Gweedore, <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donegal Person of the Year 2004"><U>(Donegal Person of the Year 2005),</U></A> celebrated the anniversary Mass.  In his homily he remarked that Tarlagh's tombstone in Magheragallan graveyard <I>faces west</I><I> </I>and all other tombstones in the graveyard <I>face east</I>.  Fr. Sweeney thought it appropriate that Tarlagh's tombstone faces thus, because, on the last day when all in Magheragallan graveyard rise and face east, Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór, will be facing his audience.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I>'Play as the bards played in days long ago,</I></div> <div> <I>When O Donnell arrayed for the foray or feast,</I></div> <div> <I>With your kinsman from Banagh and Fanad and Doe, </I></div> <div> <I>With piping and harping and blessing of priest,</I></div> <div> <I>Rode out in the blaze of the sun from the East -</I></div> <div> <I>O Turlough Mac Sweeney.' </I></div> <div>                                                           Eithna Carbury.</div> <bR> <div> The article above was compiled by Thomas Sweeney for a Sweeney Clan Association publication,1997. Since then additional material has become available and minor revisions have been made.</div> <bR> <div> In 1999 great grandchildren of Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór, and their blood relations in Donegal, members of the Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe Clan, funded the erection of a plaque to the memory of Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór. The plaque was erected in the Old Church, Derrybeg, with the kind permission of Fr. Michael Sweeney. P.P., Derrybeg, Gweedore, and with the welcome participation of the Sweeney Clan Association, the Donegal Historical Society and people from the parish.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>General Repute re the pedigree of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór and his father Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney Doe, Sinsear Clann tSuibhne na dTuath, 1834 - 1851.</B></div> <bR> <div> John O Donovan's Donegal Survey Letters, Sept. 1835.</div> <bR> <div> John O Donovan's footnote, p 2341, Annals of the Four Masters, Dublin 1856, 1990.</div> <bR> <div> “The MacSwines”,  pp 550-3, <I>Fate & Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel</I>, 1870 Edition, Rev. C. P. Meehan, M.R.I.A.</div> <bR> <div> Shan Van Vocht, 2 Jan.1899,  pp.10-11, The Píobaire Mór at Home.</div> <bR> <div> Interview with Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór - <I>Weekly Irish Times</I>, 24 April, 1909. </div> <bR> <div> <I>Songs of Uladh, 1904 - re the fiddle music of Pádraig - Tarlagh's brother.</I></div> <bR> <div> Articles in <I>Fáinne an Lae</I>  and <I>An Claidheamh Soluis. 1906.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Turlough Mac Sweeney - the Celebrated Piper, The Evening Telagraph, </I>October 18th 1915.</div> <bR> <div> Police Chief O Neill's book <I>“Irish Minstrels and Musicians”, reprint 1973.</I></div> <bR> <div> Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór's, Obituary - <I>Irish Catholic Press,</I> 7 Sept. 1916.</div> <bR> <div> Ethna Carbery's poetry.</div> <bR> <div> Article by Pádraig Mac Sheáin in Béaloideas. IML, XXXII, 1964 and</div> <div> RTE Radio broadcast, 25 May, 1965, with Proinnseas Ó Conluin, re same.</div> <bR> <div> Seán O Gallchóir lecture in Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair published in the Donegal Annual, 1978.</div> <bR> <div> <I>1882-1982 Beathaisnéis A Ceathair</I> - Diarmuid Breathnach & Máire Ní Murchú.</div> <bR> <div> Róise Rua, 1985</div> <bR> <div> The Piping of Patsy Touhy, 1986.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Irish Traditional Music</I> - Ciaran Carson, 1986, p 6.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Seanchas agus Dinnseanchas i nGaoth Dóbhai -</I> Dr. P O Baoill, Uimh 3, pp. 61-2.</div> <bR> <div> <I>An Céad Mham</I>, Seán Bán Mac Meanman, 1990, pp151-163.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Between the Jigs and the Reels</I> - Caoimhín Mac Aodh, 1994, pp.151-60.</div> <bR> <div> <I>The Sweeneys - Fanad Doe, Banagh, 1997,</I> pp.74-9</div> <bR> <div> Numerous TV and Radio documentaries/ discussions. </div> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                                                 24 August, 2005</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>   </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>